Support for Alternative Layouts
This is a summary of how alternative layouts have been supported by kits such as Colevrak and Homing. It is not a discussion of alt layout performance and development, but if that interests you I highly recommend starting with Pascal Getreuer’s A guide to alt keyboard layouts (why, how, which one?). It’s a concise and comprehensive overview with links to some great sites that go deeper. He also has a separate Links about keyboards page. The Keyboard layouts doc he recommends explains layout goals and metrics in detail, summarizing the alt layouts discussed here as well as more than one hundred others. Sculpted-profile The majority of custom keycap sets are sculpted-profile (Cherry, SA, MT3, KAT, etc. - more on profiles generally here) so let’s start there. Because each row has a unique keycap shape, alt layouts require a unique keycap for each legend that moves off its QWERTY row. At first there were two The Dvorak layout was patented in 1936 by August Dvorak & William L....
Apr 23, 2024
- Durock POM T1 Sunflower (Sharpest tactile bump almost to the point of discomfort, with a oddly dissatisfying sound)
- Everglide Dark Jade Black (Perfect sharp tactile bump, with a more pleasant clacky sound than POM T1s)
- Zealios (Similar tactility to Dark Jades, but with a worse sound imo)
- Boba U4Ts (Sharp tactile bump which is ever so slightly less than the Dark Jades, and a unique deep sound)
- Holy Pandas (The perfect round bump tactile, with a super unique poppy clack sound)
- Naevys (A very round bump to the point where I can sometimes mistaken it as a linear when typing fast, with a slightly thocky tone)
Personally, this is one tactile that I would highly recommend for people looking for a sharp tactile switch with a clacky tone. If you want strong tactility with a deeper tone, go for U4Ts. And if you want a very unique switch go for HPs (honestly like nothing else in my collection).